Jan. 4, 2008

Santa Barbara, Calif. - The Pacific men's volleyball team got their first taste of competition during the 2008 season as the Tigers dropped an exhibition contest to University of Alberta, 3-0, in Pacific's opening match at the UC Santa Barbara / Elephant Bar Tournament on Friday, Jan . 4

The Pacific men's volleyball team gave it their all against the No. 1 seeded University of Alberta team. Despite the 3-0 loss, the Tigers did not back down and brought an efficient, balanced game-plan against the Bears.

The Tigers struggled early on in the game due to a strong offensive attack by Alberta falling behind 10-3. The defense stepped up its intensity from that point and Pacific was able to rally and behind the offensive power of senior Simon Chen-Byerley (Northfield, Ill.) and sophomore Clay Ostrander (Wheaton, Ill.) as the duo combined for nine kills on 16 attempts. Down 29-20, the Tigers mounted a last minute rally, rattling off three straight points before falling 30-24.

In the second game, the Tigers again struggled early on falling in to a 4-0 hole, Pacific responded with five straight points of their own to take a 5-4 lead. A back and forth contest for most of the game, Alberta took command of the game late behind the offensive of Adam Kaminski to claim a 28-20 advantage. Once more the Tigers mounted a last minute run, earning three unanswered points, but the effort fell short as Pacific dropped game two, 30-23.

The third game followed a similar pattern as Alberta darted out to an early 14-3 lead. Unfortunately this time the Tigers were unable to mount as aggressive a response and Pacific dropped game three, 30-19.

Ostrander led the Tigers with 14 kills in the match, while Chen-Byerley finished with nine kills.

Three Alberta players finished in double figures in kills as Adam Kaminski and Tim Gourlay posted 11 kills, while Joel Schmuland finished with 10 kills.

The Tigers return to the court tonight in their first official match of the season against USC at 7 p.m. in the Thunderdome.